Anger over noise may have led to man's death

A 45-year-old man in a tiny Frederick County town was charged with murder Wednesday morning after investigators said he shot his younger brother inside their house, officials said.

Details were still emerging, but Allen L. Nichols apparently had become upset that his brother and others in the house were making too much noise.

Nichols was being held in the Frederick County jail without bond.

About 10:45 p.m. Tuesday night, officers were called to his house in the Knoxville community in the southwest corner of the county near Harpers Ferry, W.V. The caller reported that shots had been fired.

Once inside the home, officers found the body of Terry J. Nichols, 43, in the kitchen. He’d been shot in the head. Upstairs was older brother Allen, in a bedroom, who was arrested without incident, according to a news release from the Maryland state police. No one else was inside the house at the time.

But earlier in the evening, Terry Nichols, his mother -- who also lived in the house, in the 200 block of Knoxville Road -- and others were talking on the first floor, according to police.

“They heard the accused (Allen Nichols) banging on the floor of his upstairs bedroom and said they were aware he was apparently upset over noise they were making,” police said in their release.

Minutes later, authorities alleged, Allen Nichols came downstairs and met his brother, who had gone into the kitchen. An argument ensued between the two and witnesses heard a gunshot, police said.